Thought This Might Be

walterboswell59 · October 30, 2019

on a tuesday night each week james mcguire and i meet up with our pals from clarkston club where we discuss many topics but mostly pigeons we were talking about the up and coming club shows which start next week and i stated that my birds were no where near through the moult and that most were on there 2nd last flight but i would still bring a couple to the show which is a yb handling class one old timer stated it would be a waste of time as a pigeon that was not through the moult would never beat a bird that was he was shot down by all of us my opinion was that the moult is not a fault and i would not mark down the best handler in the class because it had a flight to go and had infact given the red card myself to pigeons that were not fully through the moult simply because the bird was the best handler whether it was through the moult or not whats your thoughts guys

another topic was our feds proposal or suggestion to have six short races for the next three years to try and combat young bird losses which we all thought is a can of worms as to where we race from as we were getting disasters from kelso and all thou dunbar was better for returns the following two races were disasters because the youngbirds were off there route and going past and coming out the north east which is a fact so no one wanted to go to dunbar with our youngbirds with some of the guys saying if its dunbar they will not be racing and will send with other feds my sugestion was 3 from otterburn and 3 from appleby which have been good race points for our fed only one of the company disagreed saying it was not far enough but he was on his own with that one my opinion was im not that bothered as i have already made up my mind the youngsters from my best birds will just be trained and not raced and i will breed some sprinters to play with in youngbird racing again what do you think guys

Valiant Fifer · October 31, 2019

Hi Wattie I've not even looked at the basics site for about a year and a half, but thought I would have a peak and see what fanciers are saying.

Wattiie in my opinion if your ybs are well trained they should in the end be just as good as other ybs which are raced

by the time they are two or three yrs old. One good thing about training only in the year of birth is that they will get the line that you want. As ylgs at least they will be racing to a mate.

Instead of breeding the usual amount of ybs you could breed less as there would be no appetite for racing plus you are bound to be more selective. Also Wattie I'd just like to add that there would be no hurry to get them into the first or second race and so on. You would simply take ur time.

You are a distance man anyway Wattie so plenty time for them to grow. If you can get them down to the coast they should be a few good ones amongst them for the channel the following year.

Many roads lead to Rome springs to mind!

dal2 · October 31, 2019

A bird that's not through the moult canny beat yin that is

tommy bhoys · October 31, 2019

watty it does not say the first show is a handling class

hotrod · October 31, 2019

watty it does not say the first show is a handling class

It usually is tommy pied or grizzle class .eyesign shouldnâ€™t be but Iâ€™ve been to a few that the judge handles the bird while looking into its eye . Donâ€™t think that should happen, and Iâ€™m like you wattie most of mine have one or two or more to go . Think shows are a bit early jmho. About 6 shorter races for y/bs. Perfect I think weâ€™ll fir me anyway u could have two or three races with half your teams at each just incase .

Roland · October 31, 2019

A bird that's not through the moult canny beat yin that is

Disagree there. Many in the moult, went and won club and fed firsts. Yes from Berwick 250 miles or More. Elgin, Perth.g

As I often Brag I won big with two June born youngsters from Thurso - 479 MILES. One went on as a yearling to win the Scottish averages on it's own merit. that is the three longest races from Scotland. Not Lerwick of course, which is in England.

Especially the third feather three quarters down.

the moult mean that energy is risen to help the moult. Like a women having a baby etc.

My only thought was ' did it damaging to the feathering and growth etc.'. But then that near seemed to be the case.

I am all for the 6 races mate IF one must race youngster

Edited October 31, 2019 by Roland

Delboy · October 31, 2019

Most of my birds are heavy in the moult still and the shows are too early for most fanciers nowadays. A show is only as good as the judge and if a bird had one or two flights to go and it was a super handler/looker then it would win the show for me. The doo game has changed over the years, the shows used to be held in Dec/Jan ( when all the birds had moulted )but now folk are mating up etc in these months.

dal2 · October 31, 2019

Disagree there. Many in the moult, went and won club and fed firsts. Yes from Berwick 250 miles or More. Elgin, Perth.g
As I often Brag I won big with two June born youngsters from Thurso - 479 MILES. One went on as a yearling to win the Scottish averages on it's own merit. that is the three longest races from Scotland. Not Lerwick of course, which is in England.
Especially the third feather three quarters down.
the moult mean that energy is risen to help the moult. Like a women having a baby etc.

My only thought was it damaging to the feathering and growth etc. But then that near seemed to be the case.
I am all for the 6 races mate IF one must race youngster

In the show Roland! It canny beat it in a show class...either handling or thru the wires

walterboswell59 · October 31, 2019

watty it does not say the first show is a handling class

im pretty sure it is tommy but ill find out m8

walterboswell59 · October 31, 2019

A bird that's not through the moult canny beat yin that is

it does if im judging steven i would not give an inferior pigeon a first just because its through the moult in a handling class i pick the bird i would like to take home but maybe thats just me m8 like i say the moult is not a fault imo but thats why its up for discussion everyone has there own opinion and its good to hear what others think

walterboswell59 · October 31, 2019

Hi Wattie I've not even looked at the basics site for about a year and a half, but thought I would have a peak and see what fanciers are saying.

Wattiie in my opinion if your ybs are well trained they should in the end be just as good as other ybs which are raced
by the time they are two or three yrs old. One good thing about training only in the year of birth is that they will get the line that you want. As ylgs at least they will be racing to a mate.

Instead of breeding the usual amount of ybs you could breed less as there would be no appetite for racing plus you are bound to be more selective. Also Wattie I'd just like to add that there would be no hurry to get them into the first or second race and so on. You would simply take ur time.
You are a distance man anyway Wattie so plenty time for them to grow. If you can get them down to the coast they should be a few good ones amongst them for the channel the following year.
Many roads lead to Rome springs to mind!

i agree 100 percent pal some of my best birds were only trained as youngbirds and went on to score in the national at 500 miles

tommy bhoys · October 31, 2019

im pretty sure it is tommy but ill find out m8

ive gt a few pieds but like most guys they are on there last flight so wont be going noo bit early for a young bird handling class :emoticon-0179-headbang:

dal2 · October 31, 2019

it does if im judging steven i would not give an inferior pigeon a first just because its through the moult in a handling class i pick the bird i would like to take home but maybe thats just me m8 like i say the moult is not a fault imo but thats why its up for discussion everyone has there own opinion and its good to hear what others think

Deffo not a fault but if it comes to the same quality and condition the one thru the moult will win. I have had many a second with the last flight not up but as a racing guy it was hard to force the racers thru. We ended up having a team fir showing that stopped racing early just to be in the right nick.

DJWa · October 31, 2019

Deffo not a fault but if it comes to the same quality and condition the one thru the moult will win. I have had many a second with the last flight not up but as a racing guy it was hard to force the racers thru. We ended up having a team fir showing that stopped racing early just to be in the right nick.

always believed and told by judges

that any bird not fully moulted would be docked 1 point

before being judged at the show

Roland · October 31, 2019

Agree DAI2. Sorry, I was referring to racing youngsters.

We often had the shows December first week. Too early even then, with the apprisal of taking note of the moult. Used to be Fed/ March back in the good old sensible days lol.

Valiant Fifer · October 31, 2019

Wattie as far as which bird is the best in a class I would say whichever pigeon I wanted to take home with me. I wouldn't care if the bird in question had half a flight to go or even a flight to go. I do think though that the majority of judges these days prefer a bird up on its last last flight. I've had winners in the show pen in both categories. On some occasions After the show I asked the judge why he picked mine as the winner as I thought they were handicapped with half or even a flight to go (Nov show) and they replied that the pigeon was simply the best in the class regardless of anything else. This was from one of Scotlands very top distance lofts and I've had the same scenario with some other top distance fanciers. However I think I've probably had more success with birds right up on their last flights. I've had quite a few in the past that I thought were good enough only for them to finish 2nd or 3rd and I feel they were slightly handicapped with their last not fully grown. Had they been fully grown I'm sure some may have got the red card, however its down to the judges in the end. For this reason I think pigeons would be more evenly judged if shows were Dec/Jan there would be no excuses about handyicaps, all birds through the moult would be there on their own merit and may the best win! Just my honest opinion!

walterboswell59 · October 31, 2019

Deffo not a fault but if it comes to the same quality and condition the one thru the moult will win. I have had many a second with the last flight not up but as a racing guy it was hard to force the racers thru. We ended up having a team fir showing that stopped racing early just to be in the right nick.

if one is as good as the other i agree with you steven but ive never had two that good in the same show anyway ill not need to worry about a first in the shows lol